


Given to Fly

by Wrendsor



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Camp Half-Blood, F/M, Gen, I'm Sorry, Post-The Heroes of Olympus, The School, Wingfic, fluff not guaranteed, maybe some fluff, there's a lot of angst, this is full of feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-14 08:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5735905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrendsor/pseuds/Wrendsor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A date in San Francisco goes awry when Percy is kidnapped by a group of unknown men. Now, faced with a third Great Prophesy that could spell out the end of the world and strange new enemies arising, Annabeth, who has always had a plan, doesn't know what to do. To make matters worse, when she finally finds her missing boyfriend, he isn't exactly the same...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Book 1: Chapter I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER:: I don't own Percy Jackson or Maximum Ride. If I did, this wouldn't be fanfiction. ;)

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

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**_BOOK 1 : THE FLIGHT_ **

_Flight: (noun) the ability to fly; also  
the act of running away_

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**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

Annabeth

**We were on a date** when it happened. I remembered the day perfectly; it was seared into my mind, taunting me endlessly with everything that I could have done differently - how I could have saved him. Everything we went through and then this happened. Sometimes, I felt as if the Fates had some sort of personal vendetta against us, or maybe we were just the old hags' best source of entertainment. Whatever the reason, I'd been getting really pissed off at whatever force was keeping us from our happily ever after (because the gods knew we deserved it, a hundred times over).

It was Winter Break, the year anniversary of Percy's kidnapping (in hindsight, maybe there was some irony in this particular date), so to celebrate being together and surviving yet another war, Percy and I had decided to go out for some pizza and then to the movies like normal kids our age did. Of course, maybe after so many years of being a demigod, I should have known better than to expect normal. That would always end up jinxing it.

We made it through dinner (one large pepperoni pizza with extra olives) before a monster decided to interrupt our date. My boyfriend and I had been walking through downtown San Francisco (we'd decided to visit Camp Jupiter and my family before the holidays) and had gotten through an alleyway - Percy insisted that it was a shortcut - when we heard a familiar growl. Beside me, Percy had already uncapped Riptide and turned around. I grasped for the drakon-bone sword on my belt, then remembered that I had left it at my dad's because my step-mom had convinced me that bringing a sword on a date was not _'the proper etiquette'_ and would be _'very noticeable'_ even with the Mist. Now I cursed my stupidity as I was left with only a small bronze dagger that I had stowed away in my boot.

Just as I pulled the blade out of my shoe, my eyes caught sight of the monster. It was a hulking hellhound - easily one of the biggest I'd ever seen, dwarfing a one-story building - running towards us alarmingly fast. Taking a deep breath, my mind went into high gear coming up with a plan to take down the beast. I quickly took in our surroundings. We were at one end of a long, fairly vacant alley about a block away from the small pizza place we had just left and four blocks from the theatre. Percy was standing two feet in front of me, putting himself between me and the approaching black hound (being the Seaweed Brain that he was). I then zeroed in on something over Percy's shoulder, and an idea formed in my head.

"Keep it occupied, I have a plan," I rushed out before reaching into my back pocket, slipping on my trusty Yankees cap, and high-tailing it to the fire escape. The ladder was eight feet above the ground, but I managed to jump and grab ahold of the last rung, pulling myself the rest of the way up (and thanking the gods for all those lava wall climbing lessons at camp). After climbing to the top of the two-story fire escape, I finally allowed myself to look down at my boyfriend.

Percy had ran forward to meet the hellhound and was now brandishing his glowing Celestial bronze sword, dodging all of the oversized dog's wild attempts at biting him, and yelling childish insults at it. This only seemed to make the monster angrier, however, as the hellhound decided to swipe one of its giant paws at him. Percy saw the limb coming and moved just in time, bringing up his three-foot blade to deflect the razor-sharp claws.

The son of Poseidon then went on the offensive and slashed Riptide across its now exposed foreleg, eliciting a pained howl from the monster.

 _Come on, Percy, stop playing with it and get your butt over here,_ I mentally yelled.

Seeming to hear me, Percy wizened up and made to stab at its side before dashing down the alley with the hellhound hot on his tail. "Anytime now, Annabeth!" Percy huffed out. 

His breaths were now coming out more ragged then usual, a harsh reminder that we were, even months afterwards, still battling with the aftereffects of our trip... down there. Along with the intense nightmares, unexplainable new phobias, and occasional flashbacks, we had also developed asthma from inhaling the poisonous air for so long. Although it was one of the least of our problems, it was definitely one of the most annoying, especially at times like these.

Percy was almost directly below me now. I held my breath for three, two, one... and jumped. With a painful thud, my body connected with the shaggy beast, and I quickly grasped handfuls of its coarse fur so as to not slide off. I then swung one of my legs around so that I was straddling the monster like a horse and started to carefully shimmy my way towards its head.

By now, the hellhound had realized that it had an unwanted passenger on its back and halted its mad chase after the tasty smelling demigod. The black beast, in an attempt to dislodge me off its back, threw itself against the wall of the alleyway. An involuntary scream cut through my throat as my shoulder connected with the unforgiving brick wall, but I swallowed the pain and tightened my loosening grip on the monster's scruff.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Percy trying to distract the hellhound, running behind it and slashing at its heels. He succeeded in gaining its attention for only a second, yet that was all the opening I needed. Just as the hellhound turned to snap at the half-blood scratching up its legs, I lunged forward with my dagger and imbedded the blade into its exposed throat, effectively slicing straight through its esophagus. The monster let out a surprised yelp before exploding into yellow dust.

I had a split second to register that there was nothing supporting me anymore before falling to the ground in a graceless heap. 

_That probably wasn't the - ow - smartest plan I've come up with_ , I thought as I struggled to my feet while clutching my shoulder. _Maybe I've been spending too much time with Seaweed Brain._

My body was still tingling in pain from the fall when I heard it.

"Um, Wise Girl, I still can't see you. Are you oka-" Percy's voice came to an abrupt stop when the muffled sound of a gun being fired filled the alleyway, along with the thud of a body hitting the ground.

I turned around as quickly as my throbbing body would allow to see two black-suited men dragging a body around the corner of the alley. I only caught a flash of the black hair and bright orange shirt of the slumped figure - Percy! - before all three vanished from view.

No, no, NO! This couldn't be happening, not again! I could barely hold back the frustrated scream building in my throat as I ripped the cap off my head. Why did everyone want to kidnap my boyfriend? Shoving the baseball hat into my back pocket and tightening my grip on the small bronze knife, I started sprinting after Percy and his captors, but before I could take more than a few steps in their direction, something heavy knocked into me. The next second, my head hit the asphalt and everything went black.

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

**The first thing that I became** aware of was the pain. It encompassed me like a fleece blanket in the desert - that is, stifling, uncomfortable, and really unwanted. Trying to think through the thick soup that my mind had been reduced to, I took stock of my injuries. Left shoulder seemed to be dislocated, bad ankle slightly sprained (again), head possibly - okay, most definitely - concussed, and innumerable bruises.

Now on to step two: what happened?The concussion was a physical entity, scrambling my thoughts like eggs. I couldn't remember where I was or why. Speaking of... I lifted my eyelids, glancing around my surroundings as I tried to focus.

"Annabeth? You okay?" My eyes trailed to the dark humanoid blob beside me.

"P'rcy?" His name was the first to come to mind.

"Uh, no. It's Nico." The voice that now introduced itself as the son of Hades responded, pounding on the growing pain in my skull. I groaned, my hand coming up to rub the bulbous lump on my forehead.

"Wha' happen'd?" I forced out.

Nico frowned. "I was at camp when Rachel IM'd me. She started raving about a dream she had, gave me some coordinates, and told me to shadow travel there. I didn't have time to ask questions." He rubbed his ring as he spoke, his dark eyes focused solely on his converse-clad feet as if they held the secret to the universe. "I got here just in time to see, um, those guys taking Percy."

My memories suddenly pieced back together: our date, the monster fight, Percy's capture. I gasped and sat up, which turned out to be a bad idea as my stomach rolled dangerously and my vision tunneled. "Where is he? What happened afterward?"

Nico's face became even more grim. He took a deep breath as if to brace himself. "Two hellhounds came out of nowhere; one of them knocked you out. I managed to kill them both but by then, Percy was long gone."

 _Gone._ The word brought back all those feelings that had consumed me in those bleak months without my boyfriend. Why did this have to happen to us? Just as Percy and I were finally starting to settle into a nice routine, the world just had to throw in another curveball. Last time, he was stolen from me while I was sleeping, but this time, he was stolen from right under my nose! Maybe if I had been paying more attention to my surroundings, or maybe if I had asked to take the long way to the theatre instead, or maybe if I'd-

"Blaming yourself doesn't help, you know." Nico's voice sounded strangely muffled as my thoughts continued in their downward spiral.

My fists clenched as a wave of anger rushed over me. Anger at myself for not saving the person I loved most when he needed it, anger at the two suit-clad man for taking him gods knew where, anger at the whole gods-damn world for allowing this to happen - again! Hadn't Percy been through enough? Wasn't winning two wars enough? Wasn't falling into freaking _Tartarus_ enough?

At the mention of Tartarus, images started flashing through my mind. Percy, covered in blisters and burns, as I force-fed him fire from the Phlegethon. Percy, rotting and decaying from the Death Mist, as we trudged through hoards of monsters. Percy, sweaty and bloody, as he cut through the endless swarm of Arai. Then suddenly, Percy was gone, absent, disappeared. One moment he was there, fighting by my side, and the next he wasn't, leaving only blackness, blackness, blackness...

"Annabeth!" Nico's voice zapped me out of my trance. My entire body was quaking and tears streaked down my cheeks. I took a shaky breath before meeting his somber eyes.

The son of Hades slipped his hand into the pocket of his Aviators jacket, pulling out a square of ambrosia and silently handing it to me. Putting the small pastry in my mouth, a wave of relief crashed through my body. The taste of Sally Jackson's pecan pie danced across my taste buds, reminding me of Thanksgiving last month with Percy's family and a few demigod friends. The happy memories worked to heal my heart as efficiently as the ambrosia was healing my body.

After the godly pastry worked its magic on me, my head became a whirlwind of thoughts. Who were the people who had kidnapped Percy? They looked humanoid, but that hardly meant much in my world, as a large amount of monsters disguised themselves as such. Also, how had they succeeded in capturing Percy? He was a son of the Big Three! Not many beings could take him on. Of course, the Seaweed Brain hadn't been paying much attention, but that was beside the point. I had heard a gun shot going off right before the two had grabbed him, and since there was no blood on the ground, I could only assume that it was a tranquilizer gun. Which would mean that they were mortals, because monsters would never resort to such a thing. This, however, brought up another important question: why? What would a couple of humans want with the son of Poseidon?

"So, what are we going to do?" Nico asked, shifting his weight from one foot to another and looking rather awkward.

His question brought my head grinding to a halt. Yes, what were we going to do? I pushed my emotions down deep inside of me. Now was not the time to break down; now was the time for action. And we had to act fast, before it was too late.

Athena always had a plan, and I, being her daughter, would be no different. Wiping the wetness off my cheeks and straightening my shoulders, I said, "First, we should go to my house and to Camp Jupiter to inform everyone about what has happened. Then we should go back to camp." 

The plan must have sounded good to Nico, because he nodded in agreement before holding out his arm. "What's your address?" 

After I told him where my family lived, I grabbed his proffered arm, and the shadows consumed us.

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for chapter one! This crossover takes place after Blood of Olympus and MAX. I have also posted this on the site fanfiction.net, under the same username and title. This is the revised version of that one though, so there are grammar and fluency edits. But, I'm up to thirty chapters on the other one, so if you get impatient you can check it out over there.
> 
> Until next time,
> 
> ~Wrendsor


	2. Book 1: Chapter II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perseus POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This is the second chapter of GtF. All chapters will be in first person for Percy, Annabeth, and Max. Any extras will be labelled as Third Person. 
> 
> Enjoy. :)

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

Perseus

**When I finally came to** , my first thought was, ' _Ow..._ ' This also happened to be my second thought, and my third, and my - well, you get the picture. It felt like I had been run over by a truck - or a Laistrygonian (not the most pleasant experience). My head was reduced to a pile of mashed potatoes, and my mouth was full of cotton. When I could finally piece the shattered puzzle of my mind back together, my next thought was: _What the Hades happened?_

I could clearly remember arriving in San Francisco with my girlfriend in the morning via Hellhound Express. After a quick visit to Camp Jupiter to drop off our stuff and say, "hey," to our Roman friends, we had had a quick picnic lunch with Annabeth's family before deciding to spend the rest of the day like normal teenage delinquents our age did: a date.

We had gotten some awesome pizza and were walking to the movie theatre to watch one of the new movies that had recently come out that Annabeth was dying to see when...a dog attacked? No, that wasn't right...It was a hellhound! Yeah, that was it. A huge one too - probably could've eaten Mrs. O'Leary for breakfast (and that's saying something). I had distracted it while Annabeth did her daughter of Athena thing to come up with an amazing plan to finally kill the beast...and then what? I tried to surf through my memories to see what had happened next, but my mind remained steadfastly blank (the stubborn bastard). A tidal wave of nausea swept over me, causing me to groan - migraines were no fun.

"Oh, good. You're finally awake." 

The sudden voice made me wrench open my eyes, which I regretted, as I was immediately assaulted with enough light to blind a god. If the situation was any different, I might've hissed and shielded my eyes with my elbow like a vampire (or Nico in the morning), but because I had no idea where I was or who was talking to me, that reaction would probably not have gotten me any brownie points, especially if my captor was someone who wanted to kill me.

_Pfft, and Annabeth accuses me of not thinking things through._

Oh, and there was that little fact that my arms were currently restrained, so there was that too. I pulled on the thick bindings, but my strength was no match for the stainless steel cuffs secured around my wrists and ankles.

After giving myself a quick pep talk, I opened my eyes - slowly this time. I was greeted with a beautiful, idyllic... white ceiling. My brow furrowed in confusion. I had expected, well... Okay, I didn't know what I was expecting: torture dungeon, underground cave, my apartment? Well, the last one was probably my wishful thinking - I mean, it wasn't like I lived on the other side of the country or anything (note the sarcasm) -, but the point was that a completely white room was definitely not where I expected to be. So, when I found out that was exactly where I had been for who knew how long, my mind froze.

"Hmm," the voice hummed, "You seem to be enjoying your accommodations." It sounded haughty and aloof. My head turned to face the owner of the voice, but when I finally caught a glimpse of the figure to my left, the gears in my head grounded to a halt.

_Annabeth?_

I internally shook myself. The woman didn't even look like my girlfriend. Instead of Annabeth's golden princess curls, her hair was stick-straight and nearly white. It was pulled back in a tight, professional ponytail that made her angular features even sharper. The nose was wrong too; it was too small and pointy. Her chin was also a bit longer, her eyebrows were plucked to almost nonexistence, and she looked a couple years older. The most notable difference, though, were her eyes. They were slanted, resembling a cat's, and were the color of cold, hard steel. All in all, she looked like a woman who would lose no sleep after murdering someone - might even take pleasure in it.

She quirked one of her non-eyebrows at me, as if urging me to speak. I narrowed my eyes at her but readily obliged. "Where am I?" My voice was scratchy, and I desperately needed some water. This brought forth the question of how long I'd been knocked out for. Was Annabeth worried? Was she even okay? Hopefully whoever - or whatever - grabbed me hadn't gotten her. I then remembered that she'd had her invisibility cap on, so maybe she did escape being captured. I could only hope that-

A disdainful sigh brought me out of my trailing thoughts. "You could have asked any question, and you go with that? _'Where am I?'_ " She huffed, "Obviously, you are currently restrained in an undisclosed location inside this white containment room. Of course, you could have been more specific, such as, _'What city am I in?'_ or _'What is building this called?'_ Your question, however, was just too vague, allowing multiple interpretations of it."

I gritted my teeth; it was like getting a lecture from Athena, the owl-brained goddess of wisdom and my girlfriend's mother. Swallowing a smart-ass remark, I opted for one that might not end with me getting tortured or otherwise. "So, who are you?" Then I remembered her rant and quickly added, "I mean, what's your name?"

"That is slightly better, I guess. My name is Margaretta Lavelle, though what use that information will be to you, I don't know." At least she was willing to talk; I decided to push my luck.

"So, Mags,-"

"Don't call me that."

"What can I call you then? Margie? Madge? Or are you more of the Peggy type? I've always wondered where they got Peggy from Margaret. I mean, Peggy starts with a 'P' and-"

"You can call me by my name or Mette, nothing else." Her thin lips were now stretched into a predominant scowl. I had to hold back the smirk that was fighting its way to my face.

"Mette. Hmm, that's a new one for me, but I like it. So, Mette, can you please inform me why you had to crash my date - which is really rude, by the way - and then kidnap me and lock me up in some hospital room?" I knew it wasn't a hospital room, but it had the same feeling - cold, impersonal, clinical. I also knew that I was starting to annoy Mette, but I couldn't really help that. My ADHD was not happy to have me lay still for so long; it felt like ants were crawling up my skin, and I kept fidgeting on the metal bed I was strapped on. Plus, annoying the crazy lady was payback for her ruining my perfectly awesome day.

I got a pointed glare in response. The steel in Mette's eyes visibly hardened until even Riptide wouldn't be able to cut through that metal gaze. She adjusted the collar of her white lab coat (would it kill someone to put some color in this place?) before replying, "I didn't kidnap you. However, the... _company_ that I work for did."

My mind was a hurricane, whirling a mile a minute. Did she say company? What did she mean by that? Her brief pause didn't go unnoticed, either. Maybe she was lying? But the question was, how much was she lying about? Ugh, I wished Annabeth was with me, at least she would have been able to read this woman. Actually, no. I was glad my girlfriend wasn't strapped down in this room with me and this psychopath. I didn't know what I would have done if she'd gotten kidnapped too.

Before my mind could wander too far, I quickly abandoned my line of thinking for a new one. "Fine. What does this company want with me, then?"

A glint suddenly appeared in those calculating, metallic eyes. I'd faced gods, titans, giants - heck, I'd even faced Tartarus himself! - but when I saw that glint, fear sliced through me. "Well, Perseus, isn't that the _real_ question to ask?" 

As a smile twisted itself upon her face, I came to a realization: I had never told her my name.

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's... Foreboding. Who captured Percy? And what do they want with him? 
> 
> Stay tuned for more.
> 
> ~Wrendsor


	3. Book 1: Chapter III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth POV;  
> Third Person POV

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

Annabeth

**Silence rang in my ears**. It's funny how the absence of all sound could create a sound itself. Of course, the ringing was just caused by the ears straining to hear something and reacting to wind blowing on the minuscule hairs in the inner ears, but - okay, I needed to focus.

My mind was still reeling from the events of today (probably why my thoughts kept wandering). I had spent the rest of the afternoon breaking the news to my family and Camp Jupiter that Percy had been kidnapped by unknown strangers. No one had taken it very well, understandably.

Now, I was standing in front of the ping pong table that served as the Camp Half-Blood head counselors' meeting place. As soon as the words had passed my lips that Percy had been taken once again, all noise had cut off abruptly. Even Leo had stopped fidgeting with his helicopter made out of pencils and pipe cleaners to gape at me.

Now, my gaze travelled around the room. Jason appeared to be shocked (literally, sparks were flying off of him and his hair stood on end), Piper had a look of deep concern on her face, Leo's nose caught fire, Butch's face drained of all color, and even Clovis's normally drooping eyes were now bulging out of his head. Chiron, who I had informed previously, and Nico were the only ones not blindsided by the news so had time to mask their emotions.

Clarisse, for her part, looked outraged. The daughter of war huffed, "What did Prissy get himself into this time?"

Normally I would have reprimanded her for a comment like that, but instead I just glanced somewhat thankfully at her. The silence had been getting uncomfortable; everyone's stares had me shifting on my feet. "I'm not sure who took him or why. Though their guns would suggest that they were mortal, at least partially."

Everyone looked taken aback by this revelation.

"So, you're saying that either demigods took him, or regular old humans did?" Miranda Gardiner, head of the Demeter Cabin while Katie was at school, asked me, raising a brown eyebrow. 

I nodded in affirmation.

"What I'm wondering is how Percy could be taken down by a mortal, with all his cool Aquaman powers and stuff," Leo piped up. 

I shot daggers at him, my temper flaring. "We were sort of preoccupied with fighting off a rogue hellhound, Valdez, and as I mentioned before, they had guns that were filled with tranqs." I was nearly growling; Leo held his hands up in surrender. "Once I had finally realized he was gone, two more hellhounds had appeared and-"

"Enter Nico," interrupted Will Solace. Nico sent him a death glare, but the son of Apollo just winked at him.

"Yes, Nico arrived and helped me defeat the rest of the monsters. When we were done, he was long gone." I swallowed the feelings that were trying to rise up - the anger, desperation, and complete loneliness that filled me when my other half wasn't around. I would deal with the emotions later, after we had a plan to rescue him.

Jason cleared his throat, getting my attention. "Is it possible that the monsters were some sort of trap? It couldn't have been a coincidence, right?" 

I contemplated this before speaking. "I guess so. Although hellhounds wouldn't be the best monster to use for a trap - too unpredictable -, I do see your point." 

I nodded at him; he smiled back reassuringly.

"What about the Romans?" Connor Stoll asked, absentmindedly twirling a pencil stolen from Leo's hand-made helicopter.

"Yeah, you were in Cali, right? Do they know?" His older brother, Travis, added.

Their question brought me back a couple hours ago when Nico and I had arrived at Camp Jupiter after a quick visit to my family's house. We had found Reyna and Frank dressed in their praetor robes talking with a fully armed Hazel, fresh from the war games. Hazel had been the first to spot us.

"Nico! Annabeth!" She had exclaimed, before enveloping both of us into a big hug. Frank had been content with a simple friendly wave. Reyna, on the other hand, had frowned, her eyebrows coming together in confusion.

"Where's Percy?" As soon as those words had left her mouth, my entire face crumbled. Hazel and Frank's smiles had immediately vanished.

"Annabeth? Weren't you guys on a date?" Hazel's voice had been trembling. My throat had dried up and all coherent thought left me. Luckily, Nico had been there to back me up.

"Someone's taken him." His voice had sounded grave. Hazel's hand had flown to her mouth, Frank had stumbled in surprise, and Reyna's face had become stoney.

"We need to call a Senate meeting." Reyna had gritted out. The next hour was a big blur. The Romans hadn't taken the capture of their former praetor very well. There had been shouting, crying, and looks of utter disbelief before Reyna could calm everyone down enough to formulate a plan.

Now, I nodded in confirmation to the Stoll brothers, but Nico saved me from speaking once again. "Frank and my sister are leading a search party. They, along with some of Lupa's wolves and the fifth cohort, have California covered. Since Percy disappeared while in San Fran, there's a good chance he's still around there."

After the son of the underworld finished speaking, the head counselors looked somewhat more calmed down - although that could have been because of Piper's quiet reassurances to them that everything was going to be fine. We had a place to start looking, unlike the last time when he just disappeared in the middle of the night. The mood around the table changed from somber to hopeful.

Chiron took this as his chance to speak up. "The news of young Perseus's kidnapping is very disheartening. His capture at the hands of mortals is...foreboding, to say the least." The centaur spoke in a grim tone. Though his face remained neutral, I could see worry and apprehension in his centuries-old eyes. "However, with both camps newly united and stronger than ever, I have no doubt that we will soon rescue him."

Chiron ended his speech and stomped his horse hoof twice; everyone took this as their cue to leave and stood up, many of them giving me sympathetic looks as they passed by. Over the last few months, I had gotten very used to those. After all, every camper knew of Percy and my little trip to hell, and they had all seen the aftermath of said trip themselves. It was the reason why we refused to eat spicy food (too much like the Phlegethon); and the reason why I couldn't stand to be alone for a long span of time (Calypso's curse still haunted me); and the reason why no one dared to sneak up on Percy anymore (someone nearly got impaled the first time); and most of all, it was the reason why the gods had allowed me to sleep in cabin three (after the third time Percy nearly drowned the camp during a nightmare, they finally gave in).

I couldn't blame anyone for their pitying looks, as much as I hated them. I mean, how do you approach two PTSD demigods who had literally gone through hell? It did make for some pretty awkward conversations. Like, "So, how was your summer?" "Oh, you know, I just went on a quest to save the world, fell into Tartarus, and defeated the primordial goddess of the earth; nothing big. You?" Yeah, that wouldn't send people running in the opposite direction, not at all.

As Chiron was telling people to keep quiet about the news until he announced it at dinner, I pulled Lou Ellen aside. Seeing us, Piper also stayed by me, shooing her boyfriend toward the others as they filed out. When the door finally shut behind him, the daughter of Hecate spoke up.

"Yes, Annabeth?" She questioned. From the look on Piper's face, I guessed that she was also wondering what I wanted.

"Grover and Percy still have their empathy link from a couple of years ago. Last time, we couldn't find Percy through it because he was in a coma."

Lou Ellen nodded, her dark curls bouncing slightly as she did so. "I figured. But what does this have to do with me?"

"Would it be possible for you to create a spell of some sort to amplify the link so that Grover could locate him?"

Her eyebrows creased as she contemplated this. "I can probably dig something up, but I might need my siblings' help."

"That's great. I think Grover is in the woods with Juniper, if you need him."

"Okay, I'll get right on it, Annabeth." Lou Ellen waved a small goodbye before taking her leave.

Once the daughter of magic was out of eyesight, I slumped into the nearest chair. As my facade dropped, my eyes slid shut and hid behind my hands. What was I going to do? At this very moment, Percy could be getting tortured or worse, and here I was doing nothing. I still needed to break the news to his mother. Oh, how was Sally going to react to her son's second kidnapping in a year? And what about Poseidon? The gods were most likely already aware of what transpired down in that alley, and if the weather outside of camp was anything to go by, they were not happy. So, a visit to Olympus was probably in order.

I felt like ripping my hair out, like screaming until my throat bled, like destroying an entire army of monsters. Was this what Percy had felt down in Tartarus, when Misery had been about to drown me in poison, and he had just snapped? If so, then I could empathize - it felt like I would shatter at any moment.

Suddenly, a hand lightly brushed my shoulder. I peeked my stormy eyes through my fingers to meet Piper's kaleidoscope ones. "Don't worry, Annabeth, we'll bring Percy back. We found him last time, didn't we?"

Piper's words sent a wave of serenity through me; I gave her a grateful look that she returned with a sweet smile. However, in the back of my mind, an uneasiness settled. I didn't doubt that we would be able to find Percy. I just wondered how much would be left of him when we finally did.

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

Third Person

_**This is not good**_ , Chiron thought as he lowered himself into his wheelchair, his horse-end slowly disappearing into the magical contraption. Once he was finally settled, he rolled behind the desk in his office. _Not good at all._

The centaur rubbed his temples, feeling all the weight of his hundreds of years of living resting on his shoulders. It was a crushing weight to carry, like the entire sky was pressing down on him. That thought, however, only seemed to make the load heavier. He could clearly remember the time when the son of Poseidon had to bare the Curse of Atlas when the boy had just reached his teenage years. It took an enormous amount of will-power and determination to hold up Ouranos; many a man would have crumbled under the great burden. And yet, young Percy Jackson had voluntarily taken it to save the male-hating goddess, Artemis.

Now, said demigod was captured by a new, unknown enemy. The queen of the gods wasn't responsible for his disappearance this time around. At least when it had been Hera's doing, Percy had been relatively save in his deep slumber. This time, however, he could be in grave danger, and no one would ever realize it until Grover suddenly went into a coma.

Chiron sighed, one of his hands sliding down his face to stroke his beard while the other clenched the oak desk in front of him in a white-knuckled grip. His wise eyes trailed to the opposite wall; it was filled with pictures of his favorite students over the many years. Two of the pictures stood out to him.

The first was taken a little over a year ago. On it were Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase a week after the Second Titan War. The daughter of Athena was frozen mid-laugh, unaware of the picture being taken. The son of Poseidon, on the other hand, had an arm draped across her shoulders and his signature trouble-maker grin on his face, obviously the reason behind Annabeth's laughter. His sea-green eyes were fixed on her like she was his entire world (which she probably was). They both looked carefree and happy. To them, they had just defeated the Titan Lord Kronos, survived a war, and finally realized their feelings about each other. To them, they had a whole prophesy-free future ahead of them.

The picture beside it was the newest addition to the wall, taken only a few months ago. This one featured the Seven of the Prophesy, all standing in front of the Athena Parthenos that was now positioned in the center of Camp Half-Blood. On the right, Leo had an impish smile on his face and his arms thrown across Jason's and Piper's necks, putting bunny ears behind the head of the latter. The daughter of Aphrodite, for her part, was shoving an elbow into his side, while her boyfriend was laughing at the two's antics. On the left side of the picture, Frank and Hazel were holding hands and staring at each other, their eyes shining with true joy and affection. Annabeth and Percy were in the center, making their roles as the leader and glue to hold the group together evident. They had their arms around each other's waists, and Annabeth's head was laying on Percy's shoulder. Unlike the other five demigods, they had their eyes on the camera.

Between the two pictures, Chiron could see a big difference in the young couple. Percy and Annabeth seemed to have aged years, even though it had only been one. Their faces were more gaunt, their skin had lost some of its shine, and their eyes had an almost broken look to them. Despite all of that, the two had genuine smiles on their faces. The picture had been taken a little under two weeks after the defeat of Gaea. It was the day that Leo had finally returned with Calypso on the back of Festus the dragon, so the entire camp had been in good spirits.

Now, as Chiron gazed at his Wall of Heroes, a knot formed in his stomach. In less than an hour, he would have to inform the rest of Camp Half-blood that Perseus had been kidnapped once again. Chaos would break out; the campers would be in pandemonium! Percy Jackson, their hero and leader, had been stolen from them for a second time. Except this time, there was no doubt that he was now in the hands of the enemy.

The immortal centaur rested his chin on a fist. It was the Winter Solstice, so all the gods had locked themselves into the throne room for their annual meeting. He had no idea what the gods knew, but he suspected that they didn't know much more than himself. After their meeting was over, Chiron planned to take a trip to the Empire State Building for a little talk with the Olympians.

The fact that someone had managed to capture one of their strongest demigods was troubling to him. It meant that there was a new, powerful enemy arising. The thought made Chiron's mood plummet even further. The demigods were still recuperating from their last war. Would they be able to handle another big fight?

 _Sure, the children would do anything to bring Percy Jackson back_ , Chiron thought, _but I fear that this might be just the beginning._

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun DUN. A new enemy arising? That doesn't bode well for the demigods. Who could it be? And will Annabeth be able to find Percy again? 
> 
> Well, I guess you'll have to wait and find out. ;)
> 
> ~Wrendsor


	4. Book 1: Chapter IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy POV

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

****

Perseus

**They had stuck me** in a dog cage. An honest-to-gods, four feet by four feet dog cage. Oh, and I was wearing a dog collar. A freaking collar, like some pet. They better put a muzzle on me next time, or I might just bite some fingers off.

_Why not just slash into them with your awesome, badass, monster-killing sword, Percy?_

Good question. The answer: apparently someone had felt like playing dress up with me while I was knocked out. Instead of the dark jeans and camp shirt I'd originally been wearing, I was now clad in some starchy gray sweatpants with no pockets and a plain white tee. They had also taken my favorite shoes - which I had worn for a multitude of quests and had become quite attached to despite them being in tatters - so I was now barefoot. At least I still had my own underwear on, thank the gods. Although, they had taken my camp necklace, making me feel completely exposed.

After the crazy lady had left the creepy hospital room, three weird, bulky guys had grabbed me. I mean, I was fairly tall, but man, those dudes looked like they could take on the Hulk. They had ushered me through a maze of white-walled corridors before finally coming to a large metal door. It had been bolted shut and looked like it weighed a ton, but after unlocking it, one of the men pushed it aside like a leaf.

 _They have to be on steroids,_ I remembered thinking.

Once the door was opened, the guys had shoved me through. I had to bite back a curse as I stumbled, leaving one of the men chuckling behind my back. Just as I had been about to enlighten them with one of Percy Jackson's Famous Witty Quips, I looked up from the grimy tile to be met with row after row of large animal crates. My eyes had grown comically wide, causing another round of laughs from the three surrounding me. I had gulped, realizing what they were planning to do. 

"Go on, then," one of them had growled. Like, literally, growled. What were those guys?

I had briefly tried to come up with some type of escape plan that didn't involve me taking on three guys who looked like they could bench press twice my weight, but I came up blank. Annabeth had always been the one who came up with the plans; I was the one who screwed them up. So, seeing no other option, I just put one foot in front of the other.

After walking down the long main path for about a minute or two, my escorts had finally stopped in front of a medium-sized cage near the back. One of them, the one who had chuckled behind me, bent down to unlatch it. 

"In you go." He leered at me.

"What? Uh, no thanks," I had protested. 

Apparently, that was funny to him; his strangely intimidating face had stretched into a wolffish grin. It reminded me of my month spent living with Lupa and her companions. I could almost see fangs piercing through the corner of his lips, but I shook that thought off as my wild imagination.

He had turned to his buddies. "I like it when they say no." Then he had reached into his pocket and brought out something that looked like a miniature remote, pushing a button on it.

The effect had been instantaneous. One second I had been standing, glaring suspiciously at the man I had deemed Chuckles, and the next, I was on my knees, clutching my neck as a current of electricity washed over me. It was like when Thalia and I had gotten into that fight over Capture the Flag all those years ago, and she'd shocked me. Except this was a _lot_ worse. As I was on the ground gasping for breath, Chuckles had kicked me into the cage, latching it shut behind me.

"And that was the low setting." He had barked out. Then, they all left, their ominous laughter echoing through the bars of the dog crate.

That had been a long time ago. How long exactly? Five hours? Six? It seemed like forever ago that I was on my date with Annabeth. Annabeth... The name had my heart doing backflips in my chest. She had to be worried by now. Had she gotten away? Did she tell the camps about my kidnapping yet? Or my parents? How would any of them be able to handle another disappearance from me? Oh, Annabeth was gonna kill me when I got out of here. 

Wherever here was...

My thoughts were wandering all over the place. Being cooped up in a cage barely big enough to sit up in was not doing wonders for my ADHD. My claustrophobia had also decided to make its presence known. Oh, and that little fact that my dad always liked to spout off? About how the sea never liked being restrained? Yeah, totally not helping. Add those all those together, along with my growling stomach and filling bladder, and you get one unhappy Percy. And Percy is not someone you wanted to make unhappy.

 _Oh-kay, talking about yourself in third person,_ I thought. _Not a good sign._

But, I was seriously bored. If starvation didn't get me first, the boredom just might. Also, my throat was really dry, like the Sahara in the dead of summer; I couldn't even form spit in my mouth. So, scratch that, I'd die of dehydration before boredom. Where was some damn water when you needed it?

I mentally face palmed myself. Duh, son of Poseidon! I could almost hear Annabeth's teasing voice: "Seaweed Brain." Closing my eyes, I reached deep inside myself and called on the water around me. The familiar tugging sensation flooded my gut, but instead of the warm tickle I usually felt, it was as if I was being stabbed by a hot fire-poker.

I gasped in pain and quickly let go of my powers, clutching my stomach. What was that? It was almost like someone had built a dam around the water, blocking me from using it.

Now I was starting to panic. _Deep breaths, Percy,_ I reminded myself, _deep breaths_. Now was definitely not the time or place to have a Panic Attack. After I had found my Zen, I settled back against the bars of the cramped cage, stretching my legs as far as they would go (which wasn't very far at all). 

What kind of people could block my powers off like that? There was Porky back in Atlanta, but that had felt differently - more like someone beating me in an arm wrestling match than someone barring me from the match altogether. How could a couple of monsters block off my godly powers, anyway? Were they even be smart enough to do that? So, monsters were out of the question then, or at least they weren't the ones running the show. God turned evil, maybe?

That'd be just my luck: getting kidnapped by two gods in one year.

I sighed dejectedly. Help was probably not coming - not this early on in the Percy-napping anyway. And escaping on my own? Forget it. Houdini wouldn't even be able to get out of this room, much less through the maze of hallways that could put the Labyrinth to shame. So, that left only one option: waiting. 

Gods, I hated waiting.

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

**It had been two days**. At least, I thought it had been two days. I lost track somewhere around twentyish hours. My vision had gone blurry a while back, and it felt like Mrs. O'Leary was sitting on my head. My stomach had finally given up on growling after realizing that it wasn't going to get food anytime soon, and my tongue was permanently cemented to the roof of my mouth.

Side note: dehydration - not fun. I wouldn't recommend it.

Above me, the bare light bulbs spaced every ten feet or so flickered in harmony. They illuminated the space just enough for me to make out the iron crates surrounding me. From where I was sitting, the rows seemed endless. Just cage after cage after cage, like some sort of strange garden. 

Or a graveyard.

I huffed out the chilly air, watching as clouds of dust scattered, and wrapped my arms around my legs to conserve some type of heat. Not being able to move or straighten my legs out completely was doing a number on my muscles and joints. And my mind. Without the distraction of move, move, move, I was stuck alone with my head. And these days? That was not a fun place. Apparently, a stroll through monster hell was not good for your mental health. Who knew?

Many more minutes passed; the only thing to break the silence was the faint scampering of mice feet in the distance. Those lucky bastards. They didn't know how privileged they were, being able to walk around freely like that. Or move at all, really.

_Oh, wow, that's a new low. Feeling jealous of mice._

A loud bang snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned my head toward the sound at the end of the hall, only to be blinded by a bright rectangle of light. Then, the pieces clicked together in my brain. It was the door! They were opening it! As my eyes adjusted to the change in the lighting, I saw the same dudes that originally threw me in here were now walking towards me. Except, it looked like they had an extra member in their group. One of the three goons was dragging said person behind them roughly. I scowled at them. There was nothing that I wanted more than to take Riptide and show them exactly how I felt about being locked in a cage and treated like a dog. It included shoving my sword where the sun don't shine. Repeatedly.

The three guys stopped abruptly at the cage cattycorner from mine, causing the fourth figure to stumble. It caught itself before falling (thankfully), but not before the naked bulb could shine down on it. I blinked. Then blinked again. The figure was a small girl, no older than ten. Her blonde hair was a rats nest, and she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks. But that wasn't what caught my attention. No, it was the patches of green scales scattered across her skin and her blue eyes that stared at me with slitted pupils. The girl even flickered a forked tongue at me, almost as if in greeting.

Before my brain could quite process what had happened, Chuckles grabbed the ten-year-old and roughly tossed her into the waiting cage. She hissed at him as he locked the door behind her, but that only caused him to, well, chuckle. I tried to speak up then, but my cracked lips couldn't seem to open. It turned out I didn't really need to talk, because they suddenly all turned their eyes to me. 

Creepy.

"Grab 'im. They want that one in Lab B-6," Chuckles told his two flunkies.

Lab B-6? That didn't sound too good. Maybe it was where they played Bingo? Not that I particularly liked Bingo - too much sitting around and not enough action - but right now it sounded like Elysium compared to the stifling crate.

Dumb and Dumber grabbed me from the cage and hauled me out. Like, literally hauled. My legs were rubber from being in a cramped position for so long, and the lack of food and water was making my head spin in circles, like one of those cartoons where the chirping birds flew around the character's skull. They had to drag me the rest of the way to the lab, too. I was too focused on my mantra of, ' _don't pass out, don't pass out, don't pass out,_ 'to be any help.

Because of that, I didn't realize we'd arrived at our destination until we came to a sudden stop. I opened my eyes and quickly took in my surroundings with a practiced ease that only came with being a paranoid demigod. The so-called Lab B-6 looked like a strange mix between a mad scientist's laboratory and a training gym. So sadly, no Bingo. Or food. 

Yeah, food would be awesome right now. What I would do for a double bacon cheeseburger and milkshake...

"Is this Subject 17?" A short man with salt-and-pepper hair asked, peering up from his clipboard at Chuckles and Co.

Wait, did he say Subject? I made an indignant sound in my throat, but it went ignored.

"Yes, it is. Now do the testing. I don't like waiting." Chuckles growled. 

Oh great, tests. I hadn't even studied.

The man nodded and nervously tugged at the sleeve of his white lab coat before signaling to two more white-coated people. His brown eyes then shifted to my green ones, the expression on his face changing from one of fear to thinly-veiled curiosity and excitement. For some reason, his stare gave me a bad feeling.

Then it hit me (I blame dehydration for not realizing it sooner). These people were completely, one hundred percent mortal. The sudden revelation had me more confused then ever. What would a couple of insane humans want with me? I sighed inwardly. It would be just my luck to be randomly kidnapped off the streets by some crazy mad scientists.

"Get it ready for the first endurance test," Clipboard Guy said to the other two whitecoats. 

Seriously, again with the 'it'? They did realize that I was a guy, right? I mean, it was pretty obvious.

I was brought out of my thoughts as something cold touched my arm. When I glanced over, I saw that one of the crazies - a middle-aged Asian woman with chin length hair - was placing weird, wire-looking things on my skin. What were they called again? Electrodes? The other whitecoat - this one a ginger guy with a face full of freckles - was doing the same thing to the left side of my body. I was handling it fine, that is, until they reached to lift up my shirt.

Okay, nope, not happening. My cheeks flushed as I tried to preserve some of my dignity, but Freckles just restrained my arms to allow the lady to put the electrodes on my bare chest and stomach. Now my cheeks were as red as Freckles's hair. I wasn't a prude or anything, but after sustaining so many scars over the years, I was always hesitant to take off my clothes in front of anyone. Not that I was embarrassed of them or anything, but it did raise a lot of questions during gym class that I couldn't really answer. After all, it's not like any of my classmates would believe me if I told them that they were from battling monsters. Plus, this lady was older than my mom; she was not supposed to be touching me like that without permission, even if she was supposedly a doctor.

After another humiliating minute of being poked and prodded, the scientists finally lowered my shirt and backed up. I silently thanked the gods they didn't touch my pants. My gratefulness didn't last long, however, as I was suddenly shoved from behind.

"Start moving, scum," the growling voice of Chuckles said. I resisted the urge to punch him, seeing as I could barely stand on my own and would probably miss him by about ten feet. Instead, I resorted to throwing him my wolf glare before shuffling forward. His only response was to shove me again harder.

After we had gone about five yards, he yanked me to a rough stop in front of a treadmill-looking thing. "Get on it."

My jaw dropped. "What?" The word ripped through my dry throat, sounding no louder than a whisper. 

The corner of his lips turned up, and this time, I knew that the fangs were not just my hyperactive imagination. "Get on, or I'll make you." 

I set my jaw firmly, but when his hand started drifting towards his pocket, I got on the treadmill. Yes, I was arguably one of the most rebellious, powerful demigods on the planet, but did I want to be shocked within an inch of my life again? 

No, thank you.

Then, the machine turned on. I don't know what I was expecting. I mean, people hooked me up to some wires and shoved me on a treadmill; now I wonder what they wanted me to do? But seriously, how did they expect me - who had been starved, dehydrated, and left in a cage for two days - to be able to run? I balked at the idea of moving my feet another inch, much less another mile.

Suddenly, pain flared up my side and through the rest of my body. I gasped and jolted, looking down at my ribs. The previously white shirt now had a smoking hole in it to reveal my raw flesh underneath. Turning my head, I saw Chuckles standing there with a cattle prod in his hand, a cruel glint in his eyes.

"Start running." 

Call me a coward, but I ran.

**༻ Ψ ༺ Ψ ༻ Ψ ༺**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Percy's in a bad place right now. I'm a terrible person for doing this to him. :(
> 
> ...but there's more pain in the next chapter, so obviously I don't feel toooo bad.
> 
> ~Wrendsor


End file.
